Working Paper: NBER ID: w14994
Authors: Robert Kaestner; Michael Grossman; Benjamin Yarnoff
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the association between weight and adolescent's educational attainment, as measured by highest grade attended, highest grade completed, and drop out status. Data for the study came from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which contains a large, national sample of teens between the ages of 14 and 18. We obtained estimates of the association between weight and educational attainment using several regression model specifications that controlled for a variety of observed characteristics. Our results suggest that, in general, teens that are overweight or obese have levels of attainment that are about the same as teens with average weight.
Keywords: Obesity; Educational Attainment; Adolescents
JEL Codes: I1; I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| weight status (underweight or overweight) (I12) | educational attainment (I21) |
| obesity (I12) | discrimination by peers and teachers (J71) |
| discrimination by peers and teachers (J71) | quality of educational inputs (I21) |
| health issues related to obesity (I12) | cognitive functioning (D91) |
| health issues related to obesity (I12) | absenteeism from school (I21) |
| cognitive functioning (D91) | academic performance (D29) |
| absenteeism from school (I21) | academic performance (D29) |